As a guest at Food Hotel Tech 2026, Philippe Palazzi, CEO of the Casino Group and Chairman of Monoprix and Naturalia, shared his vision of a market undergoing rapid transformation. In his view, restaurants, hotels, and neighborhood retail are no longer separate worlds but components of a single ecosystem serving consumers who have become more mobile, more demanding, and more unpredictable.

This evolution is profoundly reshaping business models and opening up new opportunities for collaboration between players in the hospitality and retail sectors.

For a long time, roles were clearly defined. Restaurants served meals, hotels accommodated travelers, and grocery stores met everyday needs.

That way of thinking is now a thing of the past.

According to Philippe Palazzi, today’s consumers naturally navigate between several dining options: restaurants, bakeries, neighborhood stores, delivery, or takeout. Their goal is no longer to choose a single channel, but simply to find the option that best suits their needs at that moment.

The lines between all our business segments are blurring, he emphasizes.

This shift is particularly evident in city centers, where dining, snacking, services, and neighborhood shops now coexist within the same customer journey.

Eating habits have changed profoundly.

Meals are less planned, schedules are more flexible, and decisions are often made at the last minute. Remote work, new family structures, and the pace of urban life have accelerated this transformation. Consumers now seek food that is fast, high-quality, healthy, and accessible at any time of day.

This shift directly benefits neighborhood stores, which are seeing their role evolve. Historically viewed as convenience stores, they are gradually becoming key players in everyday dining.

Consumers have become hybrid, summarizes Philippe Palazzi.

This transformation also extends to the tourism sector.

In certain areas of Paris, nearly half of the revenue generated by some of the Casino Group’s stores comes from foreign credit cards.

To meet these new needs, stores are developing services that go far beyond their traditional roles: ready-to-eat food, luggage storage, key pickup for short-term rentals, and extended operating hours.

During the Paris Olympics, the Group’s stores handled the storage of more than 15,000 pieces of luggage.

For Philippe Palazzi, these services now make neighborhood retail a natural partner for the hotel industry.

A grocery store open seven days a week next to a hotel is a real competitive advantage for the establishment.

In response to changing consumer behaviors, the Casino Group is accelerating its expansion into takeout dining.

Monoprix is notably rolling out its “La Cantine” concept, which offers a premium fast-food menu featuring a barista and recipes developed in collaboration with chefs.

Franprix, meanwhile, is continuing to develop its “Oxygène” concept, combining cold food, hot snacks, and ready-to-eat meal solutions.

Naturalia is also entering this market with a line of organic snacks tailored to consumers’ evolving expectations.

The stated ambition is particularly bold: Philippe Palazzi estimates that within ten years, takeout could account for 50% of the group’s store revenue.

A projection that illustrates the scale of the transformation currently underway in the food retail sector.

Beyond new concepts, Philippe Palazzi holds a strong conviction: players in retail and the foodservice industry now face the same challenges.

Product quality, traceability, sustainability, customer experience, speed of service, and technological innovation: these issues are increasingly converging.

According to him, the challenge is no longer about which player will capture market growth, but how each can contribute to meeting increasingly complex and fragmented consumer needs.

Feeding the French has become a collective mission.

This vision of a more open ecosystem, where retailers, restaurateurs, hoteliers, and snack providers work in a complementary manner, is undoubtedly one of the key takeaways from this presentation.

As consumption patterns evolve, traditional models are giving way to a new form of hospitality—one that is more hybrid, more flexible, and more focused on consumers’ actual needs.